Foodservice and Hospitality
March 2008

Special Feature - Give A Little Bit

Inspiration came to Judy Servay, NOT on a whim, but on a plane, on the way back from Africa. She had jut returned to Montreal from a working trip where she says she had the “classic” reaction to the locals: “They’re poor but happy.” So for Christmas that year, rather than throwing the typical party, Servay and her staff made 500 meals an donated them to l’Acceuil Bonneau, a local soup kitchen. It was such a success they did it for three years in a row.


But Servay wanted to do more. She had talked to many people who said they avoided volunteer work because they weren’t comfortable interacting with individuals in dire circumstances, so she wanted to created “a place where people could volunteer without working directly with misery.” Servay invited two restaurant-owner friends to lunch one day to be her sounding board for a crazy idea: stealing form the rich to give to the poor, in a manner of speaking. And thus in 2006, Robin des Bois (or Robin Hood), a volunteer-based, 40-seat restaurant, was born.

As the owner of Soma Productions, Servay’s background was in music videos, and films, not foodservice. She sold Soma to fund the restaurant, took a 75-percent pay cut and made a promise to herself that if Robin didn’t have enough volunteers after one year, she would shut it down. As of last month, there were more than 3,000 registered volunteers and the restaurant moved – not far from the old one on Boulevard St.-Laurent between Mont-Royal and Marie-Anne – to a place that accommodates 120. “We’re always full and we didn’t have enough space,” says Servay.

Robin des Bois is open from noon to midnight seven days a week and there are approximately 15 people on the payroll, including chef Sébastien Courville. The rest are volunteers. People sign up online for shifts to work in either the kitchen or on the floor. Some have had restaurant experience, but most have not. And although Servay says volunteers don’t necessarily save the restaurant much money in labour costs, they do bring in most of the clientele. It’s the feeling of participation and camaraderie that gives the restaurant its vibe. Servay says. “That’s the reason it works.”

Of course the food is great, too. Last year Robin des Bois donated $30,000 to various charities in Montreal – Le Chainon, Le Refuge de Jeunes, Chez Doris, Jeunesse au Soleil, Santropol Roulant and Cactus Montreal – that work “directly with the community to ward off solitude, isolation and poverty.”

Although it’s rare to find a fine-dining restaurant that exists exclusively as a not-for-profit establishment, it’s not unusual for high-end charity dinners to be organized with the support of local chefs. The passions dinner in Vancouver is a perfect example. In the 2004 Nathan Fong, a prominent local journalist, television host and food stylist, met the staff at the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation through two friends who are board members. They hoped he could organize a fundraiser to mark the first anniversary of the centre moving to its new building. In just over a month, Fong helped secure 10 of Vancouver’s top chefs to volunteer their time and dish of choice. He also sold 90 tickets, working hard to pull the whole e3vent together and raising more than $15,000.

Passions is now an annual dinner and auction, which ahs raised more than $175,000 in its past four years, $75,000 of that last year alone. Fourteen local chefs and their culinary creations are the main attraction, and the night has been voted in the top three “Best Soirées” for the past three years by the Vancouver Courier and 24Hrs magazine.

“It’s great to see Vancouver’s restaurant industry rally around such an important cause,” says Edwyn Kumar, restaurant director at CinCin, which has participated two years in a row.

Just last year in London, Ont., another group of chefs rallied for the 25th anniversary of The Meal, which is the “longest-running charity dinner in London,” according to Toddy Pylypiw, executive chef at London’s Hilton Hotel. The event has been held in the same venue since its inception – though the property has changed hands a few times – and the hotel’s chef always plays top toque for the annual fundraiser, too.

In the 1970s and ‘80s London was a “meat and potatoes market,” says Pylypiw. “Fine dining didn’t exist, but we had all these European-trained fine-dining chefs.” They were looking for an outlet for their talent, so together they approached the local branch of the Diabetes Association of Canada and said, “Let’s partner up. We can ply our trade and you can make some money.”

Each year 450 tickets are sold are more than a million dollars has been reaised to date. And even though chefs are notoriously busy, Pylypiw says he’s never had trouble finding volunteers. In fact, like Pylypiw, many have been working at the dinner for more than a decade. “You spend your entire career cooking all these amazing meals for people, but at the end of the day it’s just food. What does it do? By taking our talent we can make a difference.” He suggests another reason why people may be so willing to give their time for The Meal: “You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have a connection to diabetes.”

Having a personal connection isn’t always the reason why people give their time and skills to a particular charity, but it is a contributing factor. After all, restaurants and foodservice professionals are often approached for help, and as much as they’d all like to say yes to everyone, it’s simply not feasible. Yannick Bigourdan, owner of Splendido restaurant in Toronto, says he gets about 10 requests a week. Splendido decided to support Bloorview Kids Foundation about six years ago. “Our focus is Bloorview and we make that clear,” he says. Bigourdan and his chef, David Lee, were looking to get involved in the community. A mutual friend who worked in the foundation’s nursery introduced them to the children’s rehabilitation centre.

For the first four years they held a charity dinner at Splendido, which raised a total of $300,000. But by then Bigourdan had got to know some of the kids and he also had two boys of his own. “I became even more sensitive to the issues families face,” he says. Wanting to continue the dinners, Bigourdan also realized they had limits. But he was determined to do something unique to raise more awareness of the foundation. So he came up with an idea – the Recipes for Possibility calendar, which would feature a signature dish and recipes from a selection of top local chefs.

Valerie McMurty, president and CEO of Bloorview, thought it was a great idea. “When you’re dealing with high-profile chefs there’s an inherent level of excellence. We didn’t have to worry about the quality of the project.” In 2007, 12,000 copies of the inaugural calendar were printed and sold, raising nearly $70,000. Although they were created to raise money, Bigourdan says the most important goal was raising awareness. This year, instead of selling the calendars, they sought corporate sponsors ahead of time and secured The Globe and Mail as distributor. The number of copies jumped up to 100,000. The also sold tickets to an upscale dinner, dubbed An Evening of Possibility, to launch the calendar. It alone raised more than $400,000. Both Splendido and Bloorview received countless e-mails and calls from people congratulating them on the project. While recipients couldn’t wait to try out the recipes, they also wanted more information about donating to Bloorview.

Finding time for charity work in the fast-paced world of food service can be a struggle, admits CinCin’s Kumar. “It doesn’t always seem like there are enough hours in the day, but you have to make the time. It’s important to give back to the community in which you live and work.” Bigourdan, who spent more than 150 hours working on the calendar, echoes his sentiment: “It’s part of what we should all do. We take, so we should give. It’s a two-way street.”